A is for Alibi
by Brambleshadow of WindClan
Summary: The team's latest case resembles the plot of a Sue Grafton novel, and, not surprisingly, McGee is the one to make the connection. Now, in order to solve it, they actually have to read the book. ON HIATUS
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: The team's latest case resembles the plot of a Sue Grafton novel, and, not surprisingly, McGee is the one to make the connection. Now, in order to solve it, they actually have to read the book. (I might end up using all the books in the series for this. *grin* Let the fun begin!)**

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><p><span>Chapter One<span>

NCIS Special Agent Timothy McGee rubbed his temples tiredly. This case was draining on all of them, even Gibbs, who seemed to be able to run solely on coffee and adrenaline.

The current case they were working on involved a female petty officer named Nicole Smith, who was out on parole, having believed to have killed her divorce lawyer husband eight years ago. Now she was serving in the U.S. Navy, but staying on American soil, since she was on leave. It seemed like an open-and-shut case, especially since she'd been convicted, but Nicole swore she was innocent. It helped that another body had turned up—one belonging to one of her husband's old flames—while she was serving time in prison. The case reminded McGee of something he'd read . . .

Suddenly the name of a Sue Grafton novel featuring a female private eye flashed in his mind, along with a brief summary of the book. Trust the McGeek to come up with that. Better yet, it could help with the case.

McGee sat up straight in his desk and said, "Boss, I got something!"

Immediately Gibbs jerked to attention. "Will it help?"

"Uh, yeah, I think so."

"What d'ya got?"

"Well, it's just an idea . . ." He rapidly explained the plan. To his surprise, Gibbs looked thoughtful, taking sips of Starbucks coffee as he thought it over. "Okay."

"What?" shrieked Tony from his desk, where he'd been eavesdropping on the conversation. "You have got to be kidding. Remember the last time we had a case linked to one of McGee's books?"

Beside him, Ziva nodded agreement, looking up from where she'd been staring over DiNozzo's shoulder at the senior field agent's computer screen.

"But it's not _my _book this time, Tony," McGee pointed out.

He relented. "Okay, fine. I guess I'll go along with it."

"Great," Tim said. He looked at Gibbs. "Should we invite Abby, Ducky, and Palmer?"

"It's your idea, Tim," the silver-haired fox said.

"Yeah, but it's _your _basement," Elf Lord countered.

Gibbs sighed. "Invite them if you wish." Raising his voice slightly to include Tony and Ziva, he said, "Meet in my basement in a half hour."

"Yes, Boss," DiNozzo said.

Smiling, McGee headed to Labby, then Autopsy to brief the other three on what was going to go down.

The entire team was crowded in Gibbs' basement at 8:00 that night, surrounding his latest work-in-progress. McGee carried a small paperback book with him entitled _"A" is for Alibi. _Once everyone was settled, he asked, "Who wants to read first?"

No one volunteered for a few seconds, but then Abby piped up, "I will." She took the book from McGee's outstretched hand and, opening it up to the first page, began to read.

**My name is Kinsey Millhone. I'm a private investigator, licensed by the state of California. I'm thirty-two years old, twice divorced, no kids. The day before yesterday I killed someone and the fact weighs heavily on my mind. I'm a nice person and I have a lot of friends. My apartment is small but I like living in a cramped space. I've lived in trailers most of my life, but lately they've been getting too elaborate for my taste, so now I live in one room, a "bachelorette." I don't have pets. I don't have houseplants. I spend a lot of time on the road and I don't like leaving things behind. Aside from the hazards of my profession, my life has always been ordinary, uneventful, and good. Killing someone feels odd to me and I haven't quite sorted it through. I've already given a statement to the police, which I initialed page by page and then signed. I filled out a similar report for the office files. The language in both documents is neutral, the terminology oblique, and neither says quite enough.**

**.**

**Nikki Fife first came to my office three weeks ago. I occupy one small corner of a large suite of offices that house the California Fidelity Insurance Company, for whom I once worked. Our connection now is rather loose. I do a certain number of investigations for them in exchange for two rooms with a separate entrance and a small balcony overlooking the main street of Santa Teresa. I have an answering service to pick up calls when I'm out and I keep my own books. I don't earn a lot of money but I make ends meet.**

**I'd been out for most of the morning, only stopping by the office to pick up my camera. Nikki Fife was standing in the corridor outside my office door. I'd never really met her but I'd been present at her trial eight years before when she was convicted of murdering her husband, Laurence, a prominent divorce attorney here in town. Nikki was in her late twenties then, with striking white-blonde hair, dark eyes, and flawless skin. Her lean face had filled out some, probably the result of prison food with its high starch content, but she still had the ethereal look that had made the accusation of murder seem so incongruous at the time. Her hair had grown out now to its natural shade, a brown so pale that it appeared nearly colorless. She was maybe thirty-five, thirty-six, and the years at the California Institute for Women had left no visible lines.**

**I didn't say anything at first; just opened the door and let her in.**

**"You know who I am," she said.**

**"I worked for your husband a couple of times."**

**She studied me carefully. "Was that the extent of it?"**

**I knew what she meant. "I was also there in court when you were being tried," I said. "But if you're asking if I was involved with him personally, the answer is no. He wasn't my type. No offense. Would you like coffee?"**

**She nodded, relaxing almost imperceptibly. I pulled the coffeepot from the bottom of the file cabinet and filled it from the Sparkletts water bottle behind the door. I liked it that she didn't protest the trouble I was going to. I put in a filter paper and ground coffee and plugged in the pot. The gurgling sound was comforting, like the pump in an aquarium.**

**Nikki sat very still, almost as though her emotional gears had been disengaged. She had no nervous mannerisms, didn't smoke or twist her hair. I sat down in my swivel chair.**

**"When were you released?"**

**"A week ago."**

**"What's freedom feel like?"**

**She shrugged. "It feels good, I guess, but I can survive the other way too. Better than you'd think."**

**I took a small carton of half-and-half out of the little refrigerator to my right. I keep clean mugs on top and I turned one over for each of us, filling them when the coffee was done. Nikki took hers with a murmured thanks.**

**"Maybe you've heard this before," she went on, "but I didn't kill Laurence and I want you to find out who did."**

"Typical," Tony muttered. Abby glared at him before continuing:

**"Why wait this long? You could have initiated an investigation from prison and maybe saved yourself some time."**

**She smiled faintly. "I've been claiming I was innocent for years. Who'd believe me? The minute I was indicted, I lost my credibility. I want that back. And I want to know who did me in."**

**I had thought her eyes were dark but I could see now that they were a metallic gray. Her look was level, flattened-out, as though some interior light were growing dim. She seemed to be a lady without much hope. I had never believed she was guilty myself but I couldn't remember what had made me so sure. She seemed passionless and I couldn't imagine her caring enough about anything to kill.**

**"You want to fill me in?"**

**She took a sip of coffee and then set the mug on the edge of my desk.**

**"I was married to Laurence for four years, a little more than that. He was unfaithful after the first six months. I don't know why it came as such a shock. Actually, that's how I got involved with him . . . when he was with his first wife, being unfaithful to her with me. There's a sort of egotism attached to being a mistress, I suppose. Anyway, I never expected to be in her shoes and I didn't like it much."**

**"According to the prosecutor, that's why you killed him."**

**"Look, they needed a conviction. I was it," she said with the first sign of energy. "I've just spent the last eight years with killers of one kind or another and believe me, the motive isn't apathy. You kill people you hate or you kill in rage or you kill to get even, but you don't kill someone you're indifferent to. By the time Laurence died, I didn't give a damn about him. I fell out of love with him the first time I found out about the other women. It took me a while to get it all out of my system . . ."**

**"And that's what the diary was all about?" I asked.**

**"Sure I kept track at first. I detailed every infidelity. I listened in on phone calls. I followed him around town. Then he started being more cautious about the whole thing and I started losing interest. I just didn't give a shit."**

**A flush had crept up to her cheeks and I gave her a moment to compose herself. "I know it looked like I killed him out of jealousy or rage, but I didn't care about that stuff. By the time he died, I just wanted to get on with my own life. I was going back to school, minding my own business. He went his way and I went mine . . ." Her voice trailed off.**

**"Who do you think killed him?"**

**"I think a lot of people wanted to. Whether they did or not is another matter. I mean, I could make a couple of educated guesses but I don't have proof of anything. Which is why I'm here."**

**"Why come to me?"**

**She flushed again slightly. "I tried the two big agencies in town and they turned me down. I came across your name in Laurence's old Rolodex. I thought there was a certain kind of irony hiring someone he had once hired himself. I did check you out. With Con Dolan down at Homicide."**

**I frowned. "It was his case, wasn't it?"**

**Nikki nodded. "Yes it was. He said you had a good memory. I don't like having to explain everything from scratch."**

**"What about Dolan? Does he think you're innocent?"**

**"I doubt it, but then again, I did my time so what's it to him?"**

**I studied her for a moment. She was forthright and what she said made sense. Laurence Fife had been a difficult man. I hadn't been all that fond of him myself. If she was guilty, I couldn't see why she would stir it all up again. Her ordeal was over now and her so-called debt to society had been taken off the books except for whatever remaining parole she had to serve.**

**"Let me think about it some," I said. "I can get in touch with you later today and let you know."**

**"I'd appreciate that. I do have money. Whatever it takes."**

**"I don't want to be paid to rehash old business, Mrs. Fife. Even if we find out who did it, we have to make it stick and that could be tough after all this time. I'd like to check back through the files and see how it looks."**

**She took a manila folder out of her big leather bag. "I have some newspaper clippings. I can leave those with you if you like. That's the number where I can be reached."**

**We shook hands. Hers was cool and slight but her grip was strong. "Call me Nikki. Please."**

**"I'll be in touch," I said.**

**.**

**I had to go take some photographs of a crack in a sidewalk for an insurance claim and I left the office shortly after she did, taking my VW out the freeway. I like my cars cramped and this one was filled with files and law books, a briefcase where I keep my little automatic, cardboard boxes, and a case of motor oil given to me by a client. He'd been cheated by two con artists who had "allowed" him to invest two grand in their oil company. The motor oil was real enough but it wasn't theirs; just some Sears thirty-weight with new labels pasted on. It had taken me a day and a half to track them down. In addition to the junk, I keep a packed overnight case back there, too, for God knows what emergency. I wouldn't work for anyone who wanted me _that _fast. It just makes me feel secure to have a nightgown, toothbrush, and fresh underwear at hand. I have my little quirks I guess. The VW's a '68, one of those vague beige models with assorted dents. It need a tune-up but I never have time.**

**I thought about Nikki as I drove. I had tossed the manila folder full of clippings on the passenger seat but I really didn't need to look at them. Laurence Fife had done a lot of divorce work and he had a reputation as a killer in court. He was cold, methodical, and unscrupulous, taking any advantage he could. In California, as in many states, the only grounds for divorce are irreconcilable differences or incurable insanity, which eliminates the trumped-up adultery charges that were the mainstay of divorce attorneys and private eyes in the old days. There is still the question of property settlements and custody—money and children—and Laurence Fife could get his clients anything. Most of them were women. Out of court, he had a reputation as a killer of another kind and the rumor was that he had mended many a broken heart in that difficult period between interlocutory and final decrees.**

**I had found him shrewd, nearly humorless, but exact; an easy man to work for because his instructions were clear and he paid in advance. A lot of people apparently hated him: men for the price he extracted, women for the betrayal of their trust. He was thirty-nine years old when he died. That Nikki was accused, tried, and convicted was just a piece of bad luck. Except for cases that clearly involve a homicidal maniac, the police like to believe murders are committed by those we know and love, and most of the time they're right—a chilling thought when you sit down to dinner with a family of five. All those potential killers passing their plates.**

"She's right about that," Gibbs said. The rest of the team nodded, although Tony had to suppress silent laughter at that last sentence.

Abby continued reading:

**As nearly as I could remember, Laurence Fife had been having drinks with his law partner, Charlie Scorsoni, the night of his murder. Nikki was at a meeting of the Junior League. She got home before Laurence, who arrived about midnight. He was taking medication for numerous allergies and before he went to bed, he downed his usual capsule. Within two hours, he was awake—nauseated, vomiting, doubled over with violent stomach cramps. By morning, he was dead. An autopsy and lab test showed that he'd died as a result of infesting oleander, ground to a fine powder and substituted for the medication in the capsule he took: not a masterly plot, but one employed to good effect. Oleander is a common California shrub. There was one in the Fife's backyard as a matter of fact. Nikki's fingerprints were found on the vial along with his. A diary was discovered among her possessions, certain entries detailing the fact that she'd found out about his adulteries and was bitterly angry and hurt, contemplating divorce. The District Attorney established quite nicely that no one divorced Laurence Fife without penalty. He'd been married and divorced once before and though neither attorney had handled his case, his impact was evident. He obtained custody of his children and he managed to come out ahead financially. The state of California is scrupulous in its division of assets, but Laurence Fife had a way of maneuvering monies so that even a fifty-fifty split gave him the lion's share. It looked as if Nikki Fife knew better than to try disentangling herself from him legally and had sought other means.**

**She had motive. She had access. The grand jury heard the evidence and returned an indictment. Once she got into court, it was simply a question of who could persuade twelve citizens of what. Apparently the D.A. had done his homework. Nikki hired Wilfred Brentnell from Los Angeles: a legal whiz with a reputation as the patron saint of lost causes. In some sense, it was almost like admitting her guilt. The whole trial had a sensational air. Nikki was young. She was pretty. She was born with money. The public was curious and the town was small. It was all too good to miss.**

The Gothic forensic scientist set down the book and slid it to McGee. "You next. After all, this was your idea."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. The text in bold, as you've probably figured out by now, is the text from the story. Obviously, I'm using the book _"A" is for Alibi_ by Sue Grafton. All rights reserved.**

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><p><span>Chapter Two<span>

McGee sighed and accepted the book. He turned the page and started reading the second chapter, ignoring the fact that Palmer looked about ready to fall asleep and Gibbs was passing around bourbon—although he was the only one who would end up drinking it.

**Santa Teresa is a Southern California town of eighty thousand, artfully arranged between the Sierra Madres and the ****Pacific Ocean****—a haven for the abject rich. The public buildings look like old Spanish missions, the private homes look like magazine illustrations, the palm trees are trimmed of unsightly brown fronds, and the marina is as perfect as a picture postcard with the blue-gray hills forming a backdrop and white boats bobbing in the sunlight. Most of the downtown area consists of two- and three-story structures of white stucco and red tile, with wide soft curves and trellises wound with gaudy maroon bougainvillea. Even the frame bungalows of the poor could hardly be called squalid.**

**The police department is located near the heart of town on a side street lined with cottages painted mint green with low stone walls and jacaranda trees dripping lavender blossoms. Winter in ****Southern California**** consist of an overcast and is heralded not by autumn but by fire. After the fire season come the mud slides. And then the status quo is restored and everything goes on as before. This was May.**

**After I dropped the roll of film off to be developed, I went into the Homicide Department to see Lieutenant Dolan. Con is in his late fifties with the aura of the unkept: bags under his eyes, gray stubble or its illusion, a pouchy face, and hair that's been coated with some kind of men's product and combed across a shiny place on top. He looks like he would smell of Thunderbird and hang out under bridges throwing up on his own shoes. Which is not to say he isn't very sharp. Con Dolan is a lot smarter than the average thief. He and killers run about neck and neck. He catches them most of the time and only occasionally guesses wrong. Few people can outthink him and I'm not sure why this is true, except that his powers of concentration are profound and his memory clear and pitiless. He knew why I was there and he motioned me back to his office without a word.**

**What Con Dolan calls an office would do for a secretary anywhere else. He doesn't like being shut away and he doesn't much care for privacy. He likes to conduct his business tipped back in his chair with his attention half-turned to what's going on around him. He picks up a lot of information like that and it saves him needless talk with his men. He knows when his detectives come and go and he knows who's been brought in for questioning and he knows when reports aren't being done on time and why.**

**"What can I do for you?" he said, but his tone didn't indicate any particular desire to help.**

**"I'd like to look at the files on Laurence Fife."**

**He arched an eyebrow at me ever so slightly. "It's against department policy. We're not running a public library here."**

**"I didn't ask to take them out. I just want to look. You've let me do that before."**

**"Once."**

**"I've given you information more times than that and you know it," I said. "Why hesitate on this?"**

**"That case is closed."**

**"Then you shouldn't have any objections. It's hardly an invasion of anyone's privacy."**

**His smile then was slow and humorless and he tapped a pencil idly, loving, I imagined, the power to turn me down cold. "She killed him, Kinsey. That's all there is to it."**

**"You told her to get in touch with me. Why bother with it if you don't have a doubt yourself?"**

**"My doubts have nothing to do with Laurence Fife," he said.**

**"What then?"**

**"There's more to this one than meets the eye," he said evasively "Maybe we'd like to protect what we've got."**

**"Are 'we' keeping secrets?"**

**"Oh I got more secrets than you ever dreamed about," he said.**

**"Me too," I said. "Now why are we playing games?"**

**He gave me a look that might have been annoyance and might have been something else. He's a hard man to read. "You know how I feel about people like you."**

**"Look, as far as I'm concerned, we're in the same business," I said. "I'm straight with you. I don't know what kind of gripes you have with the other private investigators in town, but I stay out of your way and I've got nothing but respect for the job you do. I don't understand why we can't cooperate with one another."**

**He stared at me for a moment, his mouth turning down with resignation. "You'd get more out of me if you'd learn to flirt," he said grudgingly.**

**"No I wouldn't. You think women are a pain in the ass. If I flirted, you'd pat me on the head and make me go away."**

**He wouldn't take the bait on that one but he did reach over and pick up the phone, dialing Identification and Records.**

"I like this chick," Tony commented, smiling broadly.

In response, Gibbs slapped him on the back of the head. "Shut up and let Tim read."

"Yes, Boss."

**"This is Dolan. Have Emerald bring me the files on Laurence Fife." He hung up and leaned back again, looking at me with a mixture of speculation and distaste.**

**"I better not hear any complaints about the way you handle this. If I get one call from anyone—and I'm talking about a witness who feels harassed or anyone else, including my men or anybody else's men—you're up shit creek. You got that?"**

**I held up three fingers beside my temple dutifully. "Scout's honor."**

**"When were you ever a Scout?"**

**"Well, I was a Brownie once for almost a week," I said sweetly. "We had to paint a rose on a hanky for Mother's Day and I thought it was dumb so I quit."**

Palmer, Abby, and DiNozzo had to chuckle and smile at that.

**He didn't smile. "You can use Lieutenant Becker's office," he said when the files arrived. "And stay out of trouble."**

**I went into Becker's office.**

**It took me two hours to sort through the mass of paperwork but I began to see why Con had been reluctant to let me look because just about the first thing that came to light was a series of Telexes from the West Los Angeles Police Department about a second homicide. At first, I thought it was a mistake—that communiqués from another case had been inadvertently sandwiched into the wrong file. But the details nearly leapt from the page and the implications made my heart go pitty-pat. An accountant named Libby Glass, Causasian, female, age twenty-four, had died from ingesting ground oleander four days after Laurence Fife died. She had worked for Haycfaft and McNiece, a business-management firm representing the interests of Laurence Fife's law firm. Now what the hell was that about?**

**I flipped through copies of the investigators' reports, trying to piece together the story from terse departmental memorandums and penciled summations of telephone calls flying back and forth between the Santa Teresa and ****West Los Angeles**** police departments. One memo noted that the key to her apartment had been found on the key ring in Laurence Fife's office desk drawer. A lengthy interview with her parents didn't add anything. There was an interview with a surely sounding ex-boyfriend named Lyle Abernathy, who seemed convinced that she was romantically involved with a "certain unnamed Santa Teresa attorney," but no one had pinned it down much beyond that. Still, the connection was ominous enough and it looked like Nikki Fife's alleged jealous rage might have included the object of her husband's philanderings as well as the man himself. Except that there wasn't any proof.**

**I made notes, jotting down last-known addresses and telephone numbers for whatever good that might do after all these years, and then I pushed my chair back and went to the door. Con was talking to Lieutenant Becker but he must have known what I wanted because he excused himself, apparently satisfied that I hadn't missed the point. I leaned on the doorframe, waiting. He took his sweet time ambling over.**

**"You want to tell me what that was about?"**

**His expression was bemused but there was an air of bitterness about it. "We couldn't make it stick," he said flatly.**

**"You think Nikki killed her too?"**

**"I'd be willing to bet on it," he snapped.**

**"I take it the D.A. didn't see it that way."**

**He shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I can read the ****California**** Evidence Code as well as the next man. They called off my dogs."**

**"The stuff in the file was all circumstantial," I said.**

**"That's right."**

**I shut my mouth, staring off at a row of windows that badly needed to be cleaned. I didn't like this little turn of events at all and he seemed to know that. He shifted his weight.**

**"I think I could have nailed her but the D.A. was in a big hurry and he didn't want to jeopardize his case. Bad politics. That's why you didn't like being a cop yourself, Kinsey. Working with a leash around your neck."**

**"I still don't like that," I said.**

**"Maybe that's why I'm helping you," he said and the look in his eyes was shrewd.**

**"What about follow-up?"**

**"Oh we did that. We worked on the Libby Glass angle for months, off and on. So did the ****West LAPD****. We never turned up anything. No witnesses. No informants. No fingerprints that could have placed Nikki Fife at the crime scene. We couldn't even prove that Nikki _knew _Libby Glass."**

**"You think I'm going to help you make your case?"**

**"Well, I don't know about that," he said. "You might. Believe it or not, I don't think you're a bad investigator. Young yet, and sometimes off the wall, but basically honest at any rate. If you turn up evidence that points to Nikki, I don't think you'd hold that back now, would you?"**

**"_If _she did it."**

**"If she didn't, then you don't have anything to worry about."**

**"Con, if Nikki Fife has something to hide, why would she open this whole thing up again? She couldn't be that kind of fool. What could she possibly gain?"**

**"You tell me."**

**"Listen," I said, "I don't believe she killed Laurence in the first place so you're going to have a hell of a time persuading me she killed someone else as well."**

**The phone rang two desks over and Lieutenant Becker held up a finger, looking over at Con. He gave me a fleeting smile as he moved away.**

**"Have a good time," he said.**

**I scanned the file again quickly to make sure I hadn't overlooked anything and then I closed it up and left it on the desk. He was deep in conversation with Becker again when I passed the two of them and neither looked up at me. I was troubled by the idea of Libby Glass but I was also intrigued. Maybe this was going to be more than a rehash of old business, maybe there was more to be turned up than a trail that was eight years cold.**

**By the time I got back to the office, it was ****4:15**** and I needed a drink. I got a bottle of Chablis out of my little refrigerator and applied the corkscrew. The two coffee mugs were still sitting on my desk. I rinsed out both and filled mine with wine tart enough to make me shudder ever so slightly. I went out onto the second-floor balcony and looked down at ****State Street****, which runs right up the middle of downtown Santa Teresa, eventually making a big curve to the left and turning onto a street with another name. Even where I stood, there were Spanish tile and stucco arches and bougainvillea growing everywhere. Santa Teresa is the only town I ever heard of that made the main street narrower, planted trees instead of pulling them up, and constructed cunning telephone booths that look like small confessionals. I propped myself up on the waist-high ledge and sipped my wine. I could smell the ocean and I let my mind go blank, watching the pedestrians down below. I already knew that I would go to work for Nikki but I just needed these few moments for myself before I turned my attention to the job to be done.**

**At ****5:00**** I went home, calling the service before I left.**

**.**

**Of all the places I've lived in Santa Teresa, my current cubbyhole is the best. It's located on an unpretentious street that parallels the wide boulevard running along the beach. Most of the homes in the neighborhood are owned by retired folk whose memories of the town go back to the days when it was all citrus groves and resort hotels. My landlord, Henry Pitts, is a former commercial baker who makes a living now, at the age of eighty-one, by devising obnoxiously difficult crossword puzzles, which he likes to try out on me. He is usually also in the process of making mammoth batches of bread, which he leaves to rise in an old Shaker cradle on the sunporch near my room. Henry trades bread and other baked goods to a nearby restaurant for his meals and he has also, of late, become quite crafty about clipping coupons, declaring that on a good day he can buy $50.00 worth of groceries for $6.98. Somehow these shopping expeditions seem to net him pairs of pantyhose, which he gives to me. I am halfway in love with Henry Pitts.**

DiNozzo let out a snort of laughter at that. Hearing it in a guy's voice made it sound so wrong on so many levels.

McGee silenced him with a glare. "Do you mind?"

"Oh, no, not at all," the movie-loving agent said in a voice full of mirth. He shut up when Gibbs threatened to slap him silly. Smirking, McGee continued reading.

**The room itself is fifteen feet square, outfitted as living room, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, closet, and laundry facility. Originally this was Henry's garage and I'm happy to say that it sports no stucco, red Spanish tile, or vines of any kind. It is made of aluminum siding and other wholly artificial products that are weather-resistant and never need paint. The architecture is completely nondescript. It is to this cozy den that I escape most days after work and it was from here that I called Nikki and asked her to meet me for a drink.**

Tim set the book down. "I gotta remember this for my next book," he said to himself.

The whole team groaned. Tony said, "McGee, if you write one more book about us, I will personally destroy your typewriter, binder, and anything else you use to write."

"He's gonna have to get in line," said Ziva. "I will already have razed everything you own."

Tim shrugged. "Who wants to go next?"

There was silence before DiNozzo sighed and said, "I guess I will. But first, can I order a pizza?"

"No."


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.**

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><p><span>Chapter Three<span>

The senior field agent sighed. "Fine." Pulling the book closer to him, Tony began to read the third chapter aloud.

**I do most of my hanging at a neighborhood bar called Rosie's. It's the sort of place where you look to see if the chair needs brushing off before you sit down. The plastic seats have little rips in them that leave curls of nylon on the underside of your stockings and the tables have black Formica tops hand-etched with words like _hi._ To the left above the bar, there's a dusty marlin, and when people get drunk, Rosie lets them shoot rubber-tipped arrows at it with a toy gun, thus averting aggressions that might otherwise erupt into vicious barroom snits.**

At the mental image, nearly everyone except Ducky had to muffle their laughter. DiNozzo stopped reading and glared. "This is a very serious matter. I mean, our killer could be out murdering someone right now."

"Or he's already killed them," Ziva put in helpfully.

"Just shut up and read." That was Gibbs, of course.

Not wanting to be Gibbs-slapped more than once tonight, Tony obliged.

**The place appeals to me for a couple of reasons. Not only is it close to my home but it is never attractive to tourists, which means that most of the time it's half-empty and perfect for private conversations. Then, too, Rosie's cooking is inventive, a sort of devil-may-care cuisine with a Hungarian twist. It is with Rosie that Henry Pitts barters baked goods, so I get to eat his breads and pies as a dividend. Rosie is in her sixties with a nose that almost meets her upper lip, a low forehead, and hair dyed a remarkable shade of rust, rather like the color of cheap redwood furniture. She also does tricky things with an eyebrow pencil that makes her eyes look small and suspect.**

**When Nikki walked in that night, she hesitated, scanning the place. Then she spotted me and moved through the empty tables to the booth where I usually sit. She slid in across from me and eased out of her jacket. Rosie ambled over, eyeing Nikki with uneasiness. Rosie is convinced that I do business with Mafia types and drug crazies and she was probably trying to determine the category into which Nikki Fife might fit.**

**"So are you eating something or what?" Rosie said, getting straight to the point.**

**I glanced at Nikki. "Have you had dinner?"**

**She shook her head. Rosie's eyes moved from Nikki to me as though I might be translating for a dead mute.**

**"What have you got tonight?"**

**"It's veal porkolt. Veal cubes, lotta onion, paprika, and tomato paste. You'll love it. You'll go nuts. It's the best kinda stew I make. Henry's rolls and everything, and on a plate I'm gonna put some good soft cheese and a coupla gherkins."**

**She was already writing down the order as she spoke, so it didn't require much from us in the way of consent. "You gonna have wine too. I'll pick the kind."**

**When Rosie had left, I related the information I'd picked up in the files about the murder of Libby Glass, including the telephone calls that had been traced to Laurence's home phone.**

**"Did you know about her?"**

**Nikki shook her head. "I head the name but it was through my attorney, sometime during the trial, I think. I can't even remember now what was said."**

**"You never head Laurence mention her? Never saw her name written down anyplace?"**

**"No little love notes if that's what you mean. He was meticulous about that sort of thing. He was once named as corespondent in a divorce action because of some letter he wrote and after that, he seldom put anything personal in writing. I usually knew when he was involved with someone but never because he left cryptic notes or telephone numbers on matchbook covers or anything like that."**

**I thought about that one for a minute. "What about phone bills though? Why leave those around?"**

**"He didn't," Nikki said. "All the bills were sent to the business-management firm in ****Los Angeles****."**

**"And Libby Glass handled the account?"**

**"Apparently she did."**

**"So maybe he called her on business matters."**

**Nikki shrugged. She was a little less remote than she had been but I still had the feeling that she was one step removed from what was happening. "He was having an affair with _someone_."**

**"How do you know?"**

**"The hours he kept. The look on his face." She paused, apparently thinking back. "Sometimes he would smell of someone else's soap. I finally accused him of that and afterwards he had a shower installed at the office and used the same kind of soap there that we used at home."**

**"Did he see women down at the office?"**

**"Ask his partner," she said with the faintest tinge of bitterness. "Maybe he even screwed 'em on the office couch, I don't know. Anyway it was little things. It sounds stupid now, but once he came home and the edge of his sock was turned down. It was summer and he said he'd been out playing tennis. He had on tennis shorts and he'd worked up a sweat all right, but not out on a public court. I really zapped him that time."**

**"But what would he say when you confronted him?"**

**"He'd admit it sometimes. Why not? I didn't have any proof and adultery isn't grounds for divorce in this state anyway."**

**Rosie arrived with the wine and two paper napkins wrapped around some silverware. Nikki and I were both silent until she'd departed again.**

**"Why did you stay married to him if he was such a jerk?"**

**"Cowardice, I guess," she said. "I would have divorced him eventually, but I had a lot at stake."**

**"Your son?"**

**"Yes." Her chin came up slightly, whether from pride or defensiveness I wasn't sure. "His name is Colin," she said. "He's twelve. I have him in a boarding school up near ****Monterey****."**

**"You also had Laurence's kids living with you at the time, didn't you?"**

**"Yes, that's right. A boy and a girl, both in school."**

**"Where are they now?"**

**"I have no idea. His ex-wife is here in town. You might check with her if you're curious. I don't hear from them."**

**"Did they blame you for his death?"**

**She leaned forward, her manner intense. "Everyone blamed me. Everyone believed I was guilty. And now I take it Con Dolan thinks I killed Libby Glass too. Isn't that what you were getting at?"**

**"Who cares what Dolan thinks? I don't think you did it and I'm the one going to work on this thing. Which reminds me. We ought to get to the financial end of it clarified. I charge thirty bucks an hour plus mileage. I'd like to have at least a grand up front. I'll sent you an intemized accounting from week to week, indicating what time I've put doing what. Also, you have to understand that my services are not exclusive. I sometimes handle more than one case at a time."**

**Nikki was already reaching into her purse. She took out a checkbook and a pen. Even looking at it upside down, I could see that the check was for five thousand dollars. I admired the carelessness with which she dashed it off. She didn't even have to check her bank balance first. She pushed it across the table to me and I tucked it into my purse as though I disposed of such matters as casually as she.**

**Rosie appeared again, this time with our dinner. She put a plate down in front of each of us and then stood there until we began to eat. "Mmm, Rosie it's wonderful," I said.**

**She wiggled slightly in place, not yielding her ground.**

**"Maybe it don't suit your friend," she said, looking at me instead of Nikki.**

**"Marvelous," Nikki murmured. "Really it is."**

**"She loves it," I said. Rosie's gaze slid across to Nikki's face and she finally seemed satisfied that Nikki's appreciation of the dish was equaled only by my own.**

**I let the conversation wander while we ate. Between the good food and the wine, Nikki seemed to be letting down her guard. Under that cool, unruffled surface, signs of waking life were beginning to show, as though she were just wakening from a curse that had rendered her immobile for years.**

**"Where do you think I should start?" I asked.**

**"Well I don't know. I've always been curious about his secretary back then. Her name was Sharon Napier. She was already working for him when he and I met, but there was something not right about her, something in her attitude."**

**"Was she involved with him?"**

**"I don't think so. I really don't know what it was. I could just about guarantee they didn't have any sexual ties, but something had gone on. She was sometimes sarcastic with him, which Laurence never tolerated from anyone. The first time I heard her do it, I thought he'd cut her down, but he never batted an eye. She never took any guff from him at all, wouldn't stay late, wouldn't come in on weekends when he had a big case coming up. He never complained about her either, just went out and hired temporary help when he needed it. It wasn't like him, but when I asked him about it, he acted as if I were crazy, reading significance into the situation when there wasn't any. She was gorgeous, too, hardly the run-of-the-mill office type."**

**"Do you have any idea where she is now?"**

**Nikki shook her head. "She used to live up on Rivera but she's not there now. At least, she's not listed in the telephone book."**

**I made a note of her last-known address. "I take it you never knew her well."**

**Nikki shrugged. "We had the customary exchanges when I called the office but it was just routine stuff."**

**"What about friends of hers or places she might hang out?"**

**"I don't know. My guess is she lived way beyond her means. She traveled every chance she could and she dressed a lot better than I did back then."**

**"She testified at the trial, didn't she?"**

**"Yes, unfortunately. She'd been a witness to a couple of nasty quarrels I had with him and that didn't help."**

**"Well, it's worth looking into," I said. "I'll see if I can get a line on her. Is there anything else about him? Was he in the middle of any hassles when he died? Any kind of personal dispute or a big legal case?"**

**"Not that I knew. He was always in the middle of something big."**

**"Well, I think the first move is to talk to Charlie Scorsoni and see what he has to say. Then we'll figure it out from there."**

**I left money on the table for the dinner check and we walked out together. Nikki's car was parked close by, a dark green Oldsmobile ten years out of date. I waited until she'd pulled away and then I walked the half block to my place.**

**When I got in, I poured myself a glass of wine and sat down to organize the information I'd collected so far. I have a system of consigning data to three-by-five index cards. Most of my notes have to do with witnesses: who they are, how they're related to the investigation, dates of interviews, follow-up. Some cards are background information I need to check out and some are notes about legal technicalities. The cards are an efficient way of storing facts for my written reports. I tack them up on a large bulletin board above my desk and stare at them, telling myself the story as I perceive it. Amazing contradictions will come to light, sudden gaps, questions I've overlooked.**

**I didn't have many cards for Nikki Fife and I made no attempt to assess the information I had. I didn't want to form a hypothesis too early for fear it would color the entire course of the investigation. It did seem clear that this was a murder where an alibi meant little or nothing. If you go to the trouble to substitute poison for the medication in someone's antihistamine capsules, all you have to do afterward is sit back and wait. Unless you want to risk killing off others in the household, you have to be sure that only your intended victim takes that particular prescription, but there are plenty of pills that would satisfy that requirement: blood-pressure medication, antibiotics, maybe even sleeping pills. It doesn't matter much as long as you have access to the supply. It might take your victim two days or two weeks but eventually he'd dose himself properly and you could probably even manufacture a reasonable facsimile of surprise and grief. The plan has a further advantage in that you don't actually have to be there to shoot, bludgeon, hack up, or manually strangle your intended. Even where the motivation to kill is overpowering, it'd be pretty distasteful (one would think) to watch someone's eyes bug out and listen to his or her last burbling cries. Also, when done in person there's always that unsettling chance that the tables might be turned and you'd wind up on a slab in the morgue yourself.**

**As methods go, this little oleander number was not half bad. In Santa Teresa, the shrub grows everywhere, sometimes ten feet tall with pink or white blossoms and handsome narrow leaves. You wouldn't need to bother with anything so blatant as buying rat poison in a town where there are clearly no rats, and you wouldn't have to sport a false mustache when you went into your local hardware store to ask for a garden pest control with no bitter aftertaste. In short, the method for killing Laurence Fife, and apparently Libby Glass as well, was inexpensive, accessible, and easy to use. I did have a couple of questions and I made notes of those before I turned out the light. It was well after ****midnight**** when I fell asleep.**

"Wow," said Palmer. "She sure is knowledgeable in how to kill someone."

"Or she did her research," Ducky reminded his assistant.

"That too," the Autopsy Gremlin amended.

Tony, ignoring them, looked at Ziva. "Your turn, David."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

The Israeli-American sighed, realizing resistance was futile, and pulled the book closer. She skimmed through the pages a little before beginning to read aloud.

**I went into the office early to type up my initial notes for Nikki's file, indicating briefly what I'd been hired to do and the fact that a check for five thousand dollars had been paid on account. Then I called Charlie Scorsoni's office. His secretary said he had some free time midafternoon, so I set up an appointment for 3:15 and then used the rest of the morning to do a background check. When interviewing someone for the first time, it's always nice to have a little information up your sleeve. A visit to the county clerk's office, the credit bureau, and the newspaper morgue gave me sufficient facts to dash off a quick sketch of Laurence Fife's former law partner. Charles Scorsoni was apparently single, owned his own home, paid his bills on time, did occasional public-speaking stints for worthy causes, had never been arrested or sued—in short, was a rather conservative, middle-aged man who didn't gamble, speculate on the stock market, or jeopardize himself in any way. I had caught glimpses of him at the trial and I remembered him as slightly overweight. His current office was within walking distance of mine.**

**The building itself looked like a Moorish castle: two stories of white adobe with windowsills two feet deep, inset with wrought-iron bars, and a corner tower that probably housed the rest rooms and floor mops. Scorsoni and Powers, Attorneys-at-Law, were on the second floor. I pushed through a massive carved wooden door and found myself in a small reception area with carpeting as soft underfoot as moss and about the same shade. The walls were white, hung with watercolors in various pastels, all abstract, and there were plants here and there; two plump sofas of asparagus green wide-wale corduroy sat at right angles under a row of narrow windows.**

**The firm's secretary looked to be in her early seventies, and I thought at first she might be out on loan from some geriatric agency. She was thin and energetic, with bobbed hair straight out of the twenties and "mod" glasses replete with a rhinestone butterfly on the lower portion of one lens. She was wearing a wool skirt and a pale mauve sweater, which she must have knit herself, as it was a masterpiece of cable stitches, wheat ears, twisted ribs, popcorn stitches, and picot appliqué. She and I became instant friends when I recognized the aforementioned—my aunt having raised me on a regimen of such accomplishments—and we were soon on a first-name basis. Hers was Ruth; nice biblical stuff.**

Noticing DiNozzo was grinning like an idiot, Ziva frowned at him and kicked him in the shin. "Knock it off."

He winced, rubbing his leg. "I can't help it. This is one funny P.I."

"As much as it pains me to, I agree with him," McGee said.

_Thwack!_

"Ow!" both agents whined, rubbing their sore heads.

"How 'bout both of you, shut up." That was Gibbs, of course.

Ziva rolled her eyes and continued:

**She was a chatty little thing, full of pep, and I wondered if she wasn't about perfect for Henry Pitts. Since Charlie Scorsoni was keeping me waiting, I took my revenge by eliciting as much information from Ruth as I could manage without appearing too rude. She told me she had worked for Scorsoni and Powers since the formation of their partnership seven years ago. Her husband had left her for a younger woman (fifty-five) and Ruth, on her own for the first time in years, had despaired of ever finding a job, as she was then sixty-two years old, "though in perfect health," she said. She was quick, capable, and of course was being aced out at every turn by women one-third her age who were cute instead of competent.**

**"The only cleavage I got left, I sit on," she said and then hooted at herself. I gave Scorsoni and Powers several points for their perceptiveness. Ruth had nothing but raves for them both. Still her rhapsodizing hardly prepared me for the man who shook my hand across the desk when I was finally ushered into his office forty-five minutes late.**

**Charlie Scorsoni was big, but any excess weight I remembered was gone. He had thick, sandy hair, receding at the temples, a solid jaw, cleft chin, his blue eyes magnified by big rimless glasses. His collar was open, his tie askew, sleeves rolled up as far as his muscular forearms would permit. He was tilted back in his swivel chair with his feet propped up against the edge of the desk, and his smile was slow to form and smoldered with suppressed sexuality. His air was watchful, bemused, and he took in the sight of me with almost embarrassing attention to detail. He laced his hands across the top of his head. "Ruth tells me you have a few questions about Laurence Fife. What gives?"**

**"I don't know yet. I'm looking into his death and this seemed like the logical place to start. Mind if I sit down?"**

**He gestured with one hand almost carelessly, but his expression had changed. I sat down and Scorsoni eased himself into an upright position.**

**"I heard Nikki was out on parole," he said. "If she claims she didn't kill him, she's nuts."**

**"I didn't say I was working for her."**

**"Well it's for damn sure nobody else would bother."**

**"Maybe not. You don't sound too happy about the idea."**

**"Hey listen. Laurence was my best friend. I would have walked on nails for him." His gaze was direct and there was something bristly under the surface—grief, misdirected rage. It was hard to tell what.**

**"Did you know Nikki well?" I asked.**

**"Well enough I guess." The sense of sexuality that had seemed so apparent at first was seeping away and I wondered if he could turn it off and on like a heater. Certainly his manner was wary now. **

**"How did you meet Laurence?"**

**"We went to the University of Denver together. Same fraternity. Laurence was a playboy. Everything came easily to him. Law school, he went to Harvard, I went to Arizona State. His family had money. Mine had none. I lost track of him for a few years and then I head he'd opened his own law firm here in town. So I came out and talked to him about going to work for him and he said fine. He made me a partner two years later."**

**"Was he married to his first wife then?"**

**"Yeah, Gwen. She's still around town someplace but I'd be a little careful with her. She ended up bitter as hell and I've heard she's got surly things to say about him. She had a dog-grooming place up on State Street somewhere if that's any help. I try to avoid running into her myself."**

**He was watching me steadily and I got the impression that he knew exactly how much he would tell me and exactly how much he would not.**

**"What about Sharon Napier? Did she work for him long?"**

**"She was here when I hired on, though she did precious little. I finally ended up hiring a girl of my own."**

**"She and Laurence got along okay?"**

**"As far as I know. She hung around until the trial was over and then she took off. She stiffed me for some money I'd advanced against her salary. If you run into her, I'd love to hear about it. Send her a bill or something just to let her know I haven't forgotten old times."**

**"Does the name Libby Glass mean anything to you?"**

**"Who?"**

**"She was the accountant who handles your business down in L.A. She worked for Haycraft and McNiece."**

**Scorsoni continued to look blank for a moment and then shook his head. "What's she got to do with it?"**

**"She was also killed with oleander right about the time Laurence died," I said. He didn't seem to react with any particular shock or dismay. He made a skeptical pull at his lower lip and then shrugged.**

**"It's a new one on me but I'll take your word for it," he said.**

**"You never met her yourself?"**

**"I must have. Laurence and I shared the paperwork but he had most of the actual contact with the business managers. I pitched in occasionally though, so I probably ran into her at some point."**

**"I've heard he was having an affair with her," I said.**

**"I don't like to gossip about the dead," Scorsoni said.**

**"Me neither, but he did play around," I said carefully. "I don't mean to push the point, but there were plenty of women who testified to that at the trial."**

**Scorsoni smiled at the box he was drawing on his legal pad. The look he gave me then was shrewd.**

**"Well, I'll say this. One, the guy never forced himself on anyone. And two, I don't believe he would get himself involved with a business associate. That was not his style."**

**"What about his clients? Didn't he get involved with them?"**

**"No comment."**

**"Would _you _get in bed with a female client?" I asked.**

**"Mine are all eighty years old so the answer is no. I do estate planning. He did divorce." He glanced at his watch and then pushed his chair back. "I hate to cut this short but it's four-fifteen now and I have a brief to prepare."**

**"Sorry. I didn't meant to take up your time. It was nice of you to see me on such short notice."**

**Scorsoni walked me out toward the front, his big body exuding heat. He held the door open for me, his left arm extending up along the doorframe. Again, that barely suppressed male animal seemed to peer out through his eyes. "Good luck," he said. "I suspect you won't turn up much."**

**...**

**I picked up the eight-by-ten glossies of the sidewalk crack I'd photographed for California Fidelity. The six shots of the broken concrete were clear enough. The claimant, Marcia Threadgill, had filed for disability, asserting that she'd stumbled on the jutting slab of sidewalk that had been forced upward by a combination of tree roots and shifting soil. She was suing the owner of the craft shop whose property encompassed the errant walkway. The claim, a "slip and fall" case, wasn't a large one—maybe forty-eight hundred dollars, which included her medical bills and damages, along with compensation for the time she'd been off work. It looked like the insurance company would pay, but I had been instructed to give a cursory look on the off chance that the claim was trumped-up.**

**Ms. Threadgill's apartment was in a terraced building set into a hill overlooking the beach, not that far from my place. I parked my car about six doors down and got my binoculars out of the glove compartment. By slouching down on my spine, I could just bring her patio into focus, the view clear enough to disclose that she wasn't watering her ferns the way she ought. I don't know a lot about houseplants, but when all the green things turn brown, I'd take it as a hint. One of the ferns was that nasty kind that grow into little gray hairy paws that begin, little by little, to creep right out of the pot. Anyone who'd own a thing like that probably had an inclination to defraud and I could just picture her hefting a twenty-five pound sack of fern mulch with her alleged sprained back. I watched her place for an hour and a half but she didn't show. One of my old cohorts used to claim that men are the only suitable candidates for surveillance work because they can sit in a parked car and pee discreetly into a tennis-ball can, thus avoiding unnecessary absences. I was losing interest in Marcia Threadgill and in truth, I had to pee like crazy, so I put the binoculars away and found the nearest service station on my way back into town.**

Ziva paused and glared at the guys—minus Gibbs and Ducky—and Abby, who were laughing so hard they could barely breathe. "Really, it's not that silly!"

"Funny," Tony corrected.

"Same difference. Now would you shut up? The chapter's almost over, anyway."

There was a moment while Tim, Tony, Palmer, and Abby recovered sufficiently enough for the former Mossad officer to continue.

**I stopped in at the credit bureau again and talked to my buddy who lets me peek into files not ordinarily made public. I asked him to see what he could find out about Sharon Napier and he said he'd get back to me. I did a couple of personal errands and then went home. It had not been a very satisfying day but then most of my days are the same: checking and cross-checking, filling in blanks, detail work that was absolutely essential to the job but scarcely dramatic stuff. The basic characteristics of any good investigator are a plodding nature and infinite patience. Society has inadvertently been grooming women to this end for years. I sat down at my desk and consigned Charlie Scorsoni to several index cards. It had been an unsettling interview and I had a feeling that I wasn't done with him.**

Finally relieved that it was over, Ziva set the book down and pushed it into the center. "Whoever wants it, come get it."

They all stepped back, except for Jimmy, who was left standing at the table looking at the book. Then realization set in and he groaned, "You gotta be kidding me."

"Nope," Tony said with a grin. "Start reading, Autopsy Gremlin."

"Do I have a choice?"

"No."


End file.
